Freight container



Jam., 258 H936. E. F. FITCH FREIGHT CONTAINER Filed July 29., 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet l ML; MW GWW M L m7 w a @f .f3 E 7 5 G y f. Mu w m 1 6 6 j au Af a 2 v 7N ,5 5 .BHL 1L Wl A nw Y v Y, l.

jam. 28, i936. B, F. F11-CH FREIGHT CONTAINER Filed July 29, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 www if JM ma 7gg/Q;

Jan. 28, 1936. B. F. FITCH FREIGHT CNTAINER FiledJuly 29, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 EG. 7 3mm 73mm l@ @www B. F. FITCH FREIGHT QONTAINER Filed July 29, 1932 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Y me/nio@ Patented Jan. 28, 1936 FREIGHT CONTAINER Benjamin F. Fitch, Greenwich, Conn., assignor to Motor Terminals Company, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Delaware Application July 29, 1932, Serial No. 625,977

(Cl. 18S-46) 10 Claims.

This invention relates to demountable bodies, adapted to be loaded with package freight, and transferable from a highway truck to a railway car or vice versa. The invention is concerned particularly with the doors of' such demountable bodies, and with means for locking them, and for weatherproong the edges to prevent leakage into the container.

To lock the doors, I provide a vertical post, adapted to be located at the meeting edges of a pair of doors, and overlap the same, the post carrying within it suitable locking mechanism by which it may be bolted to the container above and below. The post may be detachable, or may be secured to one of the doors, but in either case it allows the doors to be identical as manufactured, whereby the cost of production is reduced and the replacement oi injured doors simpliiied.

The weather-proofing at the top of the doorway comprises a gutter carried by the body, and coasting shields carried by the doors, so that water striking the side or end of the container above the doorway is conducted away and prevented from entering the crack at the top of the doors. Access to the cracks between the hinged edges of the doors and the container is prevented by vertical conducting troughs carried by the doors and their hinges and overlapping the cracks. Leakage at the meeting edges of the doors is prevented by the door posts referred to.

My invention, comprising the means by which I carry out the above features, or any of them, is clearly illustrated in the drawings hereof, and is hereinafter more fully described, the essential novel features being summarized in the claims.

-' In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a container, having my improved door features; Fig. 2 is an end View of the same; Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through a pair of doors, as indicated by the line 3 3 on Fig. 2; Fig. 4 is a perspective, looking at the upper portion of one end of the container, and showing the doors partially opened; Fig. 5 is a detail in vertical section through the upper portion of a door and the adjacent part of the container body, as indicated, for instance, by the line 5 5 on Fig. 2; Fig. 6 is a Vertical section through the door-locking post, as indicated by the line on Fig. 2; Fig. '7 is a view similar to Fig. 6, showing the door in unlocked position; Fig. 8 is a cross-section of the container, near one end, as indicated by the line 8-8 on Fig. 1, and showing an automatic locking device to automatically lock the closed container as soon as it is deposited on a support designed to coact therewith; Fig. 9 is a similar view illustrating the automatic unlocking of the doors when the container is lifted from its support; Figs. 10 to 13 illustrate the door-locking post of the form employed when the post is not to be attached 5 to one of the doors. The View in Fig. 10 is a vertical section of the post in position; Fig. 11 is a vertical section illustrating the post as it is being put into position, and Figs. 12 and 13 are details in cross-section on the correspondingly numbered lines on Figs. 10 and 11, respectively.

As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, A indicates the demountable body which may be equipped on its opposite sides with a pair of lift hooks a2, located at the eaves for attachment of suitable hoisting mechanism. The container is provided preferably on each side a and at each end a' with a pair of doors B, supported at their outer edges by hinges b to the corresponding container wall. As each pair of doors is substantially identical, the description of one pair and the means for locking it and weatherproof-lng its joints will suffice for all of them.

Each door B comprises, as shown, two thicknesses of planking or other wood iiller I0 and l l, each thickness being covered on its outer side by a sheet of metal l2, which, at the edge of the planking, is bent about the edge and then turned inwardly between the two planking layers, as illustrated at I3 in Fig. 5. The two layers are permanently secured together, as by welding their inturned flanges. These two layers are oiset one from the other to provide a rabbet at each vertical edge, as shown at I4 and i5 in Fig. 3.

The strap hinges b are welded or otherwise secured to the door and extend some distance beyond the edge of the doors, where they are secured to their mates by vertical pintles. Where the hinges b cross the edges of the doors they are bowed outwardly, as shown at 2 l, and overlap and secure vertical metal trough-shaped bars 29. These bars extend the full height of the door and by overlapping the crack prevent water driving into it and conduct away any leakage which might possibly gain access to the door crack.

Above the doorway, the sides a of the car or the ends a1 carry a protecting member 3D, riveted to the car wall, and flaring outwardly at its upper portion, as at 3|, to provide a draining gutter leading beyond the outer edges of the doors. At 50 its lower end this applied plate 30 is bent outwardly and then upwardly to provide a supplemental gutter 32, which catches any water` falling against the outer face of the plate itself. Now each door is provided with a shield 35,

which is a plate secured to the top of the door and projecting outwardly beyond the outer face of the door and then bent upwardly and finally inclined inwardly, as at When the door is closed, as illustrated in 5, this shield portion 35 overhangs the supplemental gutter 32,

and accordingly insures that any water falling V.against the outer face of the plate 30 cannot lwill all Vbe directed into the gutter 32.

wardly facing double rabbet, as shown in Fig. 3.V

. The two edges do not abut, and thus there is a space of certain width between the inner ply of the two doors and a wider space between the outer'ply. It isA in this space that my peculiar door post is located,` which performs the double function of locking the doors and providing a weather protection.

The door post C is of the form shown in Fig. 3, or on larger scale in Fig. 13, and comprises a trough-shaped member 40 having a wider trough-shaped portion in which is seated a chan-k nel-shaped bar 41. More specica'ily, the bar 40 has a narrow trough substantially square in crosssection, provided by the central zone 4l and two zones 42 at right angles thereto. At the edge of these Zones 42 are outward anges 43,' from whichV extend slightly converging portions d. These portions '44 are then flanged still Youtwardly, as shownV at 45', parallel with the parts M and 113. The member 4l has slightly haring edge flanges A8 to rit .snugly within the converging portion 4 of the bar yAll. Y

After the two bars are formed ton the shape described'the'channel bar is inserted in the other bar and secured thereto, as by welding, and thus a stiff, hollow member of the shape described is produced. The narrowest portion of this beam is designed to stand between the inner plies of the two doors, while the wider portion stands between the'two outer plies and overlaps the inner plies, and.y the extreme vflanges d5 overlap the'outer'plies of the doors.V Accordingly, the pest obtains a good hold on both panels of the two doors, and when the post' is locked in place Y 'the' doors 'are thereby held closed.

For many purposes, it is convenient to attach the post to fone of the doors, which may be readily effected by spot welding. For other uses,`it is desirable to have the post entirely separate Vfrom either door. Even if attached, it may be readily removed from the door and applied'to another door in case rep-iacement is necessary,

due to accident. The weather shield 35 of Vone of.

Vseen within the hollow post C a pair of vertical bolts 5t and 5l. Each bolt is housed within the narrower portion of the post member el?, shown in Figs.V 3, 12 and 13, and is retained therein by suitable blocks 52 extending across the bolt. The

two bolts are formed with outwardly turnedears assumes by gravity, as shown in Fig. 6, the boltsV are extended. The bolts are of such length that when drawn together, as shown in Fig. '7, they areY within the top and bottom boundaries of the door, and hence have no locking action, but when extended they project beyond such boundaries, so that the bolt projects behind the body wall, as shown at 58, while the bolt 5i projects behind the floor sill, as shown at 59.

It will be seen that when the Vdoors are closed,

and the lever on the post swung down, the doors are locked in position. The lever may be readily retained in thisV positionby suitable car seal or padlock passed through the staple 6B carried by the post. The lever is preferably arranged so that it must be in an abnormal position to'allow the door to be closed, or the door post to be put in place. Then, as soon as the operator releases his .hold on the lever, drops by gravity into locking position. The resultis that whenever the doors are closed and left standing, they must be locked. 'Ilns 'does away with VVthe danger which would result from the possibility of a `closed but unlocked door, swinging transit of a body on a car. Y

I'he described arrangement of door-lock with'- in the post C is very suitable for installation where my locking post is attached to one of the open duringV doors, as shown in Fig. 4. Where the post is entirely separate from the door, I prefer to utilize the modiiication shown in Figs. 10 to 13. In

this embodiment I use the lower bolt'5i just as described' for the attached post, butin place of the bolt 50 I secure to the upper end Vof the post a rigid projecting stud 65, and I attach the lever 51 to a bracket 63, riveted to the post. The lever,

as heretofore, is connected by a link 58, with the postr when being installed is indicated in Fig. 11, K

and its installed position in Fig. 10. VAfter it is placed in position the hand lever 51 is lowered, and the bolt 5i 'comes into the locking position shown in Fig.r 10, and the lever is retained in this position by the seal or padlock. Y

If it be desired to lock the container automatically, as soonA as it is deposited on a car or other proper support, against opening Vof the doors by manipulation of the hand lever 51, this may be readily accomplished by the gravity loci: illustrated in Figs. 6 to 11. This gravity lock equally available for the attached door post and the separatedoor post. In either case the bolt 5|, which extends to the bottom of the post, is Vbent inwardly, as shown at 69. In the container base, beneath such inwardly bent portion 69 of the bolt 5i is a latch in the form of abell-crankV 10, pivotally mounted at 1l, as, for instance, by a bracket 12 setinto the container flo-cr and a bracket I3 secured to the end sill. 'l-ne upper arm of the bell-crank is provided with a lip 15, adapted to'overhang the bolt end 69. The other arm 16 of the bell-crank is provided with a suitable counter-weight, tending to maintain the device in the idle position, shown in Fig. 9.

Now, when the container is deposited upon a car oor D, Fig. 8, or other support equipped with means (as for instance the abutment d) to eiect the locking, the end of the lower arm 16 of the bell-crank engages such abutment when the container is lowered into position, and the bell-crank is thereby swung to carry its flange l over the projecting end 69 of the bolt 5|, as illustrated in Figs. 6 and 10. With this construction it is impossible for the lever 51 to raise the bolt 5I, and hence the container remains positively locked until it is lifted from its support.

It will be seen that the gravity lock is very effective, but may be employed or omitted as desired without in any manner changing the construction of the door post and the mechanism carried by it, the inwardly projecting lower end of the bolt 5| being simply idle if the automatic lock is not employed.

I claim:

1. The combination of a doorway, a pair of doors in the doorway hinged at their distant edges, a post adapted to overlap the doors at their inner edges and seat in outwardly facing rabbets formed in such edges, means carried by the post for engaging the doorway at one end of the post and a vertically movable locking bolt within the post adapted to engage the doorway at the other end of the post.

2. The combination with a pair of hinged doors having outwardly facing rabbets at their free edges of a locking door post, made hollow and having a wider portion adapted to occupy both rabbets to overhang the edges of the door and a narrower portion to stand between the doors, said narrower portion housing a sliding bolt.

3. The combination of a doorway, and a pair of doors, each composed of two layers, the outer layer overhanging the inner layer at the outer edge, and the inner layer overhanging the outer layer at the inner edge, a door jamb' stepped to receive the outer edges, and a post adapted to occupy the rabbets at the inner edges of the doors, in overlapping relation to both doors.

4. The combination of a stepped door jamb, a pair of doors hingedly carried adjacent'their outer edges, each door being composed of two layers of substantially the same transverse dimension, one layer being shifted in the plane of the door with reference to the other to provide a rabbet on the inner side at the outer edge oi the dooradapted to engage the door jamb step and a rabbet on the outer side at the inner edge of the door, and a door post adapted to occupy the outwardly facing rabbets of the two doors, overlapping both doors.

5. The combination of a pair of doors, hingedly carried at their outer edges, each door at the meeting edges being rabbeted to provide a step on the outer side of the door, and a post adapted to occupy the space between the rabbets, said post having flanges adapted to overhang the outer faces of the two doors beyond the rabbeted region.

6. The combination of a vertical door post adapted to overlap the proximate edges of a pair of hinged doors, a sliding bolt carried by said door post and adapted to engage stationary means at an end of the doors, a lever pivoted to said post and adapted to swing in a vertical plane transverse to the plane of the closed doors, said lever being so connected with the bolt that it lies snugly along the post when the bolt is projected.

'7. The combination of a hollow door post adapted to overlap both meeting edges of a pair of conventionally hinged doors, means within the door post to secure it at the top of the doorway and a sliding bolt within the door post adapted to extend behind a door sill, a lever on the post for operating said bolt, said bolt having a projecting portion adjacent its lower end and a gravity lock pivotally carried independently of the door and adapted to be swung over said projecting portion.

8. The combination of a doorway, a shield over the doorway and having its upper portion diverging to provide a gutter, and having its lower portion bent outwardly and upwardly to provide a supplemental gutter.

9. In combination with a stepped door jamb, a door comprising two layers, said layers being offset from each other to provide an inwardly facing rabbet at one edge and an outwardly facing rabbet at the opposite edge, the inwardly facing rabbet engaging the stepped jamb substantially in mating relation thereto, and an external post adjacent the other edge of the door, the post having portions thereof extending along the outwardly facing rabbet in overlapping relation to the inner door forming layer of the door.

l0. The combination with a door casing of two hinged doors relatively disposed in such manner that when in closed position there is a space between the two doors in the inner region of the doors, and a wider space between the doors in the outer region thereof, a post formed with a narrow portion adapted to enter the narrow space, a wider portion adapted to enter the wider space, and abutment surfaces inwardly engaging both doors to relatively align them, and endwise projecting members carried by the post for locking it at the upper and lower ends of the door casing, at least one o f said members being movable lon- .gitudinally of the post to cooperate with the caslng.

BENJAMIN F. FITCH. 

